I've got two pounds of hamburger...now what?

I have this strange thing against casseroles. Really it expands beyond casseroles to anything that was invented in the 50s and involves a strange concoction of meat, sauce, noodle, and a vegetable in one dish. I just hate making them, they are an embarrassment to serve because no one looks at them and says "hmmm, that looks delicious". What's strange is that I think I am alone in this aversion. What tipped me off was this great little cookbook from a church group that has loads of favorite recipes from women my age. I am amazed at how so many of them are still cooking the dishes their grandmothers made.

Now, I am not against family tradition- some of my favorite dishes from my childhood (comfort food) are handed down from my grandmothers. But, most of them involved several processed and canned ingredients. My friend Jennifer told me what she made for dinner last night, it was Chicken Divan (I'd never heard of it- it's probably a classic Tuesday night meal in most households). She explained that it is the worst combination of ingredients, but her kids love it. In it was a boiled chicken, mayonnaise, cream of chicken soup, cheese, curry...I got nauseous after that and couldn't hear another random ingredient. 

I'm not saying we should all be cooking the South Beach Diet or asian fusion, but with today's global economy and local food craze, there are so many fresh ingredients available that are so easily thrown together, that it seems silly to raid the cellar for the evaporated milk and macaroni noodles . 

It still begs the question of my post- I've got two pounds of hamburger... now what?

Which brings me to tonight's dilemma. I have an awesome menu planned for the week, but a couple meals are entirely new to me, and it's 4:40p. Dinner should have been started a while ago. Do I mail it in and whip up one of the three obvious choices: meatloaf, hamburgers or stuffed peppers? Of course, there is the whole spin on hamburger helper routine... no thanks. I basically feel like when I bought the hamburger it had a purpose, and to stray from my creative intent would insult the process. I saw it best served as an awesome baja style mexi-cali burger with beans, tortilla chips, and avacado. But, no buns in sight. It's definitely a weekend meal. So, it shall remain in the freezer until I can serve it in a way that truly is a delight to the senses.

My last resort- stick to what you have planned, no matter how daring and give this recipe a try. 

I'll put my own spin on it so it's big enough to feed us all as a main dish and let you know the results. It does have some of grandma's favorites in it: canned beans; so maybe the apple isn't falling too far from the tree after all.